Kid Nation

CBS's latest venture into the world of reality television is set to debut in a few days, on September 19th, but there is already alot of controversy surrounding the show's premise and the somewhat-underhanded tactics the creators of the show employed to make this production possible. "Kid Nation" is a reality show featuring forty children ranging in age from eight to fifteen. The kids are left to their own devices in a deserted part of New Mexico, tasked with creating a town, complete with its own economy and town council, while also seeing to their own survival.

So where's the controversy? In order to achieve their goals, the children sometimes had to work fourteen-hour days, a fact that was anticipated (but probably not advertised) by show producers. In fact, the reason they chose New Mexico as the stage is because of the state's less stringent child labor laws. Loophole much?

It seems that people everywhere are now up in arms because of CBS's lack of moral judgment in approving a show like this in the first place. But the whole debacle really shouldn't come as a surprise, should it? The more controversy a show may invite, the more appealing it would be to producers. After all, who wouldn't want to be behind a show that has everyone talking? And the more everyone's talking about it, the more people are going to want to watch to find out what all the fuss is about. Of course, there is no excuse for CBS's blatant dismissal of any ethical qualms they might have had about the show. And this is not to say that the show's profit-generating potential justifies the dishonesty that went into the show's making. But it doesn't seem as though CBS has overstepped any legal bounds. So on what grounds can we crucify the show's producers?

The fact is that these kids were not coerced into being on the show. They might have been coaxed and cajoled (and any other "c" word that doesn't imply coercion), but when it came down to signing the contracts and taking that flight to New Mexico, where were the parents of those forty kids? Why weren't they asking more questions about what the show would entail? Why would they allow their children to live in the middle of nowhere, essentially unsupervised, with a bunch of other kids who, for all they knew, had penchants for stealing or swearing or killing rodents or playing with BB guns? CBS might have exercised bad judgment, but they are not to blame for parents' irresponsibility, and CBS's poor decision-making does not absolve parents of their mistakes or relieve them of their duties. Let's face it: CBS's backing wasn't enough to turn the show idea into a reality. The key ingredient was the willingness of the parents. No kids, no show. It's just that simple.

So what exactly was it that made it so easy for these parents to relinquish control of their children to CBS? What could possibly have compelled them to sign a contract that pretty much said, "If my kid dies, gets beat up beyond all recognition, or somehow catches gonorrhea, I'll assume full responsibility and not blame CBS"? (Nope, I'm not kidding. CBS apparently wanted to cover all its bases by throwing STDs into the "Things You Can't Sue Us For" section of the hefty 22-page contract.)

So was it the money? Is a few thousand dollars amortized over several years really worth it? Or perhaps it was the "child star" syndrome that has been pervading our fame-obsessed society since the days of the Mickey Mouse Club. Have afflicted parents learned nothing from the latest escapades of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan? You know, I bet these are the same parents who let their eleven-year-old daughters wear low-cut shorts and visible thongs to school, and allow their eight-year-old sons to watch restricted movies and play mature video games. Isn't it convenient that CBS's abuse of New Mexico's legal loopholes can be used to keep the real culprits out of criticism's spotlight?

Oh, and the kicker? CBS is currently casting for a second season.